Rapid Reaction: Jets-Packers

What this means: Hold the Super Bowl reservations. The Jets, in a post-bye funk, were shut out for the first time since Nov. 19, 2006, snapping a five-game winning streak. Blame this one on Rex Ryan and his underachieving offense. The New York Jets made two questionable decisions in the first half, both of which loomed large in defeat. Ryan’s high-priced, big-name offense embarrassed itself against the NFL’s 18th-ranked defense.

What’s ahead: The Jets hit the road to face the improving Detroit Lions, a matchup of the two highest-drafted quarterbacks from the Class of ’09 -- Mark Sanchez (fifth overall) and Matthew Stafford (No. 1).

BAD DECISIONS: The Jets made two awful decisions in the first half -- trying a fake punt on a fourth-and-18 from their own 20 and challenging a third-down interception that had no potential benefit. The latter came back to bite them.

Steve Weatherford is a terrific athlete for a punter, but that’s a lot of running -- and he came up 1 yard short. The Packers converted that stop into a field goal and a 3-0 lead, which held up for the entire first half. The odds of converting a fourth-and-18 probably are no greater than 10 percent; that was poor game management by Ryan and special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff.

In the second quarter, on a third-and-11 from the Packers’ 43, CB Tramon Williams ripped the ball out of Jerricho Cotchery’s hands on a short pass. Ryan challenged, claiming Cotchery had possession. Even if the Jets had won the challenge, it would’ve been fourth-and-8 -- either a 58-yard FG attempt or a punt. Why waste the challenge? Ryan lost, exhausting his allotment of replay challenges for the game.

They needed that challenge in the fourth quarter, when CB Charles Woodson intercepted a pass that should’ve been negated. TE Dustin Keller had the reception and was down by contact, but the ball was ripped out of his hands by Woodson -- a huge turnover. It was a bad call, but Ryan’s hands were tied -- and it was his own fault.

Ryan capped a rough day by burning all three timeouts in the second half when the Packers had the ball with more than four minutes left in the game. It left his offense nothing to work with.

WHERE’S THE O? Did Brian Schottenheimer dust off the game plan from the Baltimore matchup? This was horrible. There were too many three-and-outs and too many blown opportunities. QB Mark Sanchez’s fast start is a distant memory, as he continued to regress for the third straight game. His two interceptions weren’t all his fault, but his accuracy was awful. It was so bad that it almost makes you think there’s something wrong with his arm.

Instead of developing a flow, Schottenheimer was too preoccupied with keeping his so-called playmakers happy. It seemed like the goal was making sure the playing time was balanced instead of trying to attack the Green Bay weaknesses. There was too much shuffling of the personnel, making it difficult for players to find a rhythm. And to think, the Jets used the bye week to perform self-scouting exercises. That didn't accomplish much.

HOLMES COMING: As expected, WR Santonio Holmes had an expanded role. He did more harm than good, dropping two short passes. The second drop came on a third down at the Packers’ 40, a wide-open play in which he could’ve scored. Holmes finished with three catches for 43 yards.

REVIS ISLAND: CB Darrelle Revis, his troublesome left hamstring supposedly 100 percent, played the entire game and didn’t seem affected by the injury. His role was changed in the second half. He played left cornerback in the first half, which meant very few matchups with the Packers’ No. 1 receiver, Greg Jennings. But in the second half, Revis was assigned to Jennings on almost every play.

SLOPPY, SLOPPY: The Jets made mistakes in all three phases. There were two interceptions thrown by Sanchez, a Brad Smith fumble out of the Wildcat, a missed field goal attempt by Nick Folk (38 yards), four dropped passes and several costly penalties. The Jets’ 5-1 start was built on takeaway-giveaway domination -- a league-leading plus-10 – but they lost the turnover battle to the Packers with a minus-3.

SPONSORED HEADLINES

Comments

You must be signed in to post a comment

Need an account?

Already have an account?

You are fully responsible for the content you post. Content that includes profanity, personal attacks or antisocial behavior (such as "spamming" or "trolling"), or other inappropriate content or material will be removed. We reserve the right to block any user who violates our terms of use, including removing all content posted by that user.

MORE FROM ESPN NEW YORK

Check out ESPN New York, your destination for sports coverage in the Big Apple.